Family Guy | [adult swim] wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia [[Image: |center|280px]] Family Guy is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company (With reruns on Adult Swim TBS and other broadcast syndication). The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois ; their children Meg , Chris , and Stewie ; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian . The show is set in the fictional city of Quahog , Rhode Island , and exhibits much of its humor in the form of cutaway gags that often lampoon American culture . The family was conceived by MacFarlane after developing two animated films, The Life of Larry and Larry & Steve . MacFarlane redesigned the films' protagonist, Larry, and his dog, Steve, and renamed them Peter and Brian, respectively. MacFarlane pitched a seven-minute pilot to Fox on May 15, 1998. The show was given the green light and started production. Shortly after the third season of Family Guy aired in 2001, Fox canceled the series.

However, favorable DVD sales and high ratings for syndicated reruns on Adult Swim convinced the network to renew the show in 2004. Family Guy has been nominated for 12 Primetime Emmy Awards and 11 Annie Awards , and has won three of each. In 2009, it was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series , the first time an animated series was nominated for the award since The Flintstones in 1961. Family Guy has also received criticism, including unfavorable comparisons for its similarities to The Simpsons .

Many tie-in media have been released, including Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story , a straight-to-DVD special released in 2005; Family Guy: Live in Vegas , a soundtrack-DVD combo released in 2005, featuring music from the show as well as original music created by MacFarlane and Walter Murphy ; a video game and pinball machine , released in 2006 and 2007, respectively; since 2005, six books published by Harper Adult based on the Family Guy universe; and Laugh It Up, Fuzzball: The Family Guy Trilogy (2010), a series of parodies of the original Star Wars trilogy . In 2008, MacFarlane confirmed that the cast was interested in producing a feature film and that he was working on a story for a film adaptation. A spin-off series, The Cleveland Show , premiered on September 27, 2009, as a part of the " Animation Domination " lineup on Fox. The eighth season of Family Guy premiered the same night. Family Guy holds a TV-PG and TV-14 rating, with the latter being used more often.

Contents [ show ] Origins MacFarlane initially conceived Family Guy in 1995 while studying animation at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). [1] During college, he created his thesis film entitled The Life of Larry , [1] which was submitted by his professor at RISD to Hanna-Barbera . MacFarlane was hired by the company. [2] In 1996 MacFarlane created a sequel to The Life of Larry entitled Larry and Steve, which featured a middle-aged character named Larry and an intellectual dog, Steve; the short was broadcast in 1997 as one of Cartoon Network 's World Premiere Toons. [1] Executives at Fox saw the Larry shorts and contracted MacFarlane to create a series, entitled Family Guy, based on the characters. [3] Fox proposed MacFarlane complete a 15-minute short, and gave him a budget of $50,000. [4] Several aspects of Family Guy were inspired by the Larry shorts. [5] While working on the series, the characters of Larry and his dog Steve slowly evolved into Peter and Brian.

[3] [6] MacFarlane stated that the difference between The Life of Larry and Family Guy was that "Life of Larry was shown primarily in my dorm room and Family Guy was shown after the Super Bowl ." [5] After the pilot aired, the series was given the green light. MacFarlane drew inspiration from several sitcoms such as The Simpsons and All in the Family . [7] Premises were drawn from several 1980s Saturday morning cartoons he watched as a child, such as The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang and Rubik, the Amazing Cube . [8] The Griffin family first appeared on the demo that MacFarlane pitched to Fox on May 15, 1998. [9] Family Guy was originally planned to start out as short movies for the sketch show MADtv , but the plan changed because MADtv's budget was not large enough to support animation production. MacFarlane noted that he then wanted to pitch it to Fox, as he thought that that was the place to create a prime-time animation show.

[7] Family Guy was originally pitched to Fox in the same year as King of the Hill , but the show was not bought until years later, when King of the Hill became successful. [7] Fox ordered 13 episodes of Family Guy to air in midseason after MacFarlane impressed executives with a seven-minute demo. [10] Production Executive producers MacFarlane has served as an executive producer during the show's entire history, and also functions as a creative consultant. The first executive producers were David Zuckerman , [11] Lolee Aries , David Pritchard, and Mike Wolf. [12] Family Guy has had many executive producers in its history, including Daniel Palladino , Kara Vallow , and Danny Smith . David A. Goodman joined the show as a co-executive producer in season three, and eventually became an executive producer. [13] Alex Borstein , who voices Lois , worked as an executive and supervising producer for the fourth and fifth seasons. [14] A more involved position on the show is the show runner , who acts as head writer and manages the show's production for an entire season.

[15] Writing The first team of writers assembled for the show consisted of Chris Sheridan , [16] Danny Smith, Gary Janetti , Ricky Blitt , Neil Goldman , Garrett Donovan , Matt Weitzman , and Mike Barker . [17] The writing process of Family Guy generally starts with 14 writers that take turns writing the scripts; when a script is finished it is given to the rest of the writers to read. These scripts generally include cutaway gags. If there are not enough cutaway sequences, writers are asked to create them. Various gags are pitched to MacFarlane and the rest of the staff, and those deemed funniest are included in the episode. MacFarlane has explained that normally it takes 10 months to produce an episode because the show uses hand-drawn animation. The show rarely comments on current events for this reason. [18] The show's initial writers had never written for an animated show; and most came from live-action sitcoms.

[7] MacFarlane explains that he is a fan of 1930s and 1940s radio programs, particularly the radio thriller anthology " Suspense ", which led him to give early episodes ominous titles like " Death Has a Shadow " and " Mind Over Murder ". MacFarlane explained that the team dropped the naming convention after individual episodes became hard to identify, and the novelty wore off. [19] For the first few months of production, the writers shared one office, lent to them by the King of the Hill production crew. [19] Credited with 14 episodes, Steve Callaghan is the most prolific writer on Family Guy staff. Many of the writers that have left the show have gone on to create or produce other successful series. Neil Goldman and Garrett Donovan co-wrote 13 episodes for the NBC sitcom Scrubs during their eight-year run on the show, while also serving as co-producers and working their way up to executive producers. [20] Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman would later create American Dad , along with MacFarlane.

[21] [22] During the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike , official production of the show halted for most of December 2007 and for various periods afterward. Fox continued producing episodes without MacFarlane's final approval, which he termed "a colossal dick move" in an interview with Variety . Though MacFarlane refused to work on the show, his contract under Fox required him to contribute to any episodes it would subsequently produce. [23] Production officially resumed after the end of the strike, with regularly airing episodes recommencing on February 17, 2008. [24] Early history and cancellation Family Guy officially premiered after Fox's broadcast of Super Bowl XXXIII on January 31, 1999, with " Death Has a Shadow ". The show debuted to 22 million viewers, and immediately generated controversy regarding its adult content. [25] The show returned on April 11, 1999, with " I Never Met the Dead Man ". Family Guy garnered decent ratings in Fox's 8:30 pm slot on Sunday, scheduled between The Simpsons and The X-Files .

[10] At the end of its first season, the show was No. 33 in the Nielsen ratings , with 12.8 million households tuning in. [26] The show launched its second season in a new time slot, Thursday at 9 pm, on September 23, 1999. Family Guy was pitted against NBC's Frasier , and the series' ratings declined sharply. [10] Fox removed Family Guy from the network's permanent schedule, and began airing episodes irregularly. The show returned on March 7, 2000, at 8:30 pm on Tuesdays, but was constantly beaten in the ratings by the new breakout hit Who Wants to Be a Millionaire , coming in at No. 114 in the Nielsen Ratings with 6.320 million households tuning in. [27] Fox announced that the show had been canceled in 2000, at the end of the second season. [28] However, following a last-minute reprieve, Fox announced on July 24, 2000, its intention to order 13 additional episodes of Family Guy to form a third season.

[25] The show returned November 8, 2001, once again in a tough time slot: Thursday nights at 8:00 pm ET . This slot brought it into competition with Survivor and Friends . (This situation was later referenced in Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story ). [29] During its second- and third-season runs, Fox frequently moved the show around to different days and time slots with little or no notice and, consequently, the show's ratings suffered. [30] Upon Fox's annual unveiling of its 2002 fall line-up on May 15, 2002, Family Guy was absent. [10] Fox announced that the show had been officially canceled shortly thereafter. [31] Cult success and revival Fox attempted to sell the rights for reruns of the show, but it was difficult to find networks that were interested; Cartoon Network eventually bought the rights, " Template:Interp basically for free", according to the president of 20th Century Fox Television .

[32] Family Guy premiered in reruns on Adult Swim on April 20, 2003, and immediately became the block's top-rated program, dominating late night viewing in its time period versus cable and broadcast competition, and boosting viewership by 239 percent. [10] [33] The complete first and second seasons were released on DVD the same week as the show premiered on Adult Swim, and the show became a cult phenomenon, selling 400,000 copies within one month. [10] Sales of the DVD set reached 2.2 million copies, [34] becoming the best-selling television DVD of 2003 [35] and the second highest-selling television DVD ever, behind the first season of Comedy Central 's Chappelle's Show . [36] The third season DVD release also sold more than a million copies. [33] The show's popularity in DVD sales and reruns rekindled Fox's interest, [37] and, on May 20, 2004, Fox ordered 35 new episodes of Family Guy, marking the first revival of a television show based on DVD sales.

[36] [38] " North by North Quahog ", which premiered May 1, 2005, was the first episode to be broadcast after the show's cancellation. It was written by MacFarlane and directed by Peter Shin . [39] MacFarlane believed the show's three-year hiatus was beneficial because animated shows do not normally have hiatuses, and towards the end of their seasons, "... you see a lot more sex jokes and (bodily function) jokes and signs of a fatigued staff that their brains are just fried". [40] With "North by North Quahog", the writing staff tried to keep the show "... exactly as it was" before its cancellation, and did not "... have the desire to make it any slicker" than it already was. [40] The episode was watched by 11.85 million viewers, [41] the show's highest ratings since the airing of the first season episode " Brian: Portrait of a Dog ".

[42] Lawsuits In March 2007 comedian Carol Burnett filed a $6 million lawsuit against 20th Century Fox, claiming that her charwoman character had been portrayed on the show without her permission. She stated it was a trademark infringement, and that Fox violated her publicity rights. [43] [44] [45] On June 4, 2007, United States District Judge Dean D. Pregerson rejected the lawsuit, stating that the parody was protected under the First Amendment , citing Hustler Magazine v. Falwell as a precedent. [46] On October 3, 2007, Bourne Co. Music Publishers filed a lawsuit accusing the show of infringing its copyright on the song " When You Wish upon a Star ", through a parody song entitled "I Need a Jew" appearing in the episode " When You Wish Upon a Weinstein ". Bourne Co., the sole United States copyright owner of the song, alleged the parody pairs a "thinly veiled" copy of their music with antisemitic lyrics. Named in the suit were 20th Century Fox Film Corp. , Fox Broadcasting Co.

, Cartoon Network , MacFarlane , and Murphy ; the suit sought to stop the program's distribution and asked for unspecified damages. [47] Bourne argued that "I Need a Jew" uses the copyrighted melody of "When You Wish Upon a Star" without commenting on that song, and that it was therefore not a First Amendment-protected parody per the ruling in Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. [48] [49] On March 16, 2009, United States District Judge Deborah Batts held that Family Guy did not infringe on Bourne's copyright when it transformed the song for comical use in an episode. [50] In December 2007, Family Guy was again accused of copyright infringement when actor Art Metrano filed a lawsuit regarding a scene in Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story , in which Jesus performs Metrano's signature "magic" act involving absurd "faux" magical hand gestures while humming the distinctive tune " Fine and Dandy ". [51] 20th Century Fox, MacFarlane, Callaghan, and Borstein were all named in the suit.

[52] In July 2009 a federal district court judge rejected Fox's motion to dismiss, saying that the first three fair use factors involved—"purpose and character of the use", "nature of the infringed work", and "amount and substantiality of the taking"—counted in Metrano's favor, while the fourth—"economic impact"—had to await more fact-finding. In denying the dismissal, the court held that the reference in the scene made light of Jesus and his followers—not Metrano or his act. [53] [54] The case was settled out of court in 2010 with undisclosed terms. [55] Voice cast Template:See Seth MacFarlane voices three of the show's main characters: Peter Griffin , Brian Griffin , and Stewie Griffin . [56] Since MacFarlane had a strong vision for these characters, he chose to voice them himself, believing it would be easier than for someone else to attempt it. [8] MacFarlane drew inspiration for the voice of Peter from a security guard he overheard talking while attending the Rhode Island School of Design.

[57] Stewie's voice was based on the voice of English actor Rex Harrison , [58] especially his performance in the 1964 musical drama film My Fair Lady . [59] MacFarlane uses his regular speaking voice when playing Brian. [8] MacFarlane also provides the voices for various other recurring and one-time-only characters, most prominently those of the Griffins' neighbor Glenn Quagmire , news anchor Tom Tucker , and Lois' father, Carter Pewterschmidt . [60] Alex Borstein voices Peter's wife Lois Griffin , Asian correspondent Tricia Takanawa , Loretta Brown , and Lois' mother, Barbara Pewterschmidt . [61] Borstein was asked to provide a voice for the pilot while she was working on MADtv. She had not met MacFarlane or seen any of his artwork, and said it was "really sight unseen". [62] At the time, Borstein was performing in a stage show in Los Angeles. She played a redheaded mother whose voice she had based on one of her cousins.

[61] [62] Episodes often feature guest voices from a wide range of professions, including actors, athletes, authors, bands, musicians, and scientists. Many guest voices star as themselves. Leslie Uggams was the first to appear as herself, in the fourth episode of the first season, " Mind Over Murder ". [79] The episode " Not All Dogs Go to Heaven " guest starred the entire cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation , including Patrick Stewart , Jonathan Frakes , Brent Spiner , LeVar Burton , Gates McFadden , Michael Dorn , Wil Wheaton , Marina Sirtis , and even Denise Crosby (season 1 as Tasha Yar ), playing themselves; this is the episode with the most guest stars of the seventh season. [80] [81] Characters The show revolves around the adventures of the family of Peter Griffin , a bumbling blue-collar worker . Peter is an Irish-American Catholic with a prominent Rhode Island and Eastern Massachusetts accent . [82] He is married to Lois , a stay-at-home mother and piano teacher who, as member of the Pewterschmidt family of wealthy socialites, has a distinct New England accent .

[83] Peter and Lois have three children: Meg , their teenage daughter, who is awkward and does not fit in at school, and is constantly ridiculed and ignored by the family; Chris , their teenage son, who is overweight, unintelligent and a younger version of his father in many respects; and Stewie , their diabolical infant son of ambiguous sexual orientation who has adult mannerisms and uses stereotypical archvillain phrases. Living with the family is Brian , the family dog, who is highly anthropomorphized , drinks martinis , and engages in human conversation, though he is still considered a pet in many respects. [84] Many recurring characters appear alongside the Griffin family. These include the family's neighbors: sex-crazed airline-pilot bachelor Glenn Quagmire , Cleveland Brown and his wife Loretta Brown , paraplegic police officer Joe Swanson , his wife Bonnie and their baby daughter Susie (Bonnie is pregnant with Susie from the show's beginning until the seventh episode of the seventh season ); neurotic Jewish pharmacist Mort Goldman , his wife Muriel , and their geeky and annoying son Neil ; and elderly ephebophile Herbert .

TV news anchors Tom Tucker and Diane Simmons , Asian reporter Tricia Takanawa , and Blaccu-Weather meteorologist Ollie Williams also make frequent appearances. Actors Adam West and James Woods guest star as themselves in various episodes. Setting Template:Double image The primary setting of Family Guy is Quahog Template:IPAc-en , a fictional Rhode Island town . MacFarlane resided in Providence during his time as a student at Rhode Island School of Design, and the show contains distinct Rhode Island landmarks similar to real-world locations. [85] [86] MacFarlane often borrows the names of Rhode Island locations and icons such as Pawtucket and Buddy Cianci for use in the show. MacFarlane, in an interview with local WNAC Fox 64 News, stated that the town is modeled after Cranston, Rhode Island . [87] Hallmarks "Road to" episodes Template:Further2 The "Road to" episodes are a series of hallmark travel episodes. [88] [89] [90] They are a parody of the seven Road to...

comedy films starring Bing Crosby , Bob Hope , and Dorothy Lamour , which were released between 1940 and 1962. [89] These episodes usually involve Stewie and Brian in some foreign, supernatural, or science fiction location not related to the show's normal location in Quahog. The first, entitled " Road to Rhode Island ", aired on May 30, 2000, during the second season . The episodes are known for featuring elaborate musical numbers , similar to the Road films. [91] The episodes contain several trademarks, including a special version of the opening sequence, custom musical cues and musical numbers, and parodies of science fiction and fantasy films. [92] The original idea for the "Road to" episodes came from MacFarlane, as he is a fan of the films of Crosby, Hope, and Lamour. The first episode was directed by Dan Povenmire , who would direct the rest of the "Road to" episodes until the episode " Road to Rupert ", at which point he had left the show to create Phineas and Ferb .

[93] [94] Series regular Greg Colton then took over Povenmire's role as director of the "Road to" episodes. [95] Humor Family Guy uses the filmmaking technique of cutaways , which occur in the majority of Family Guy episodes. [96] Emphasis is often placed on gags which make reference to current events and/or modern cultural icons. Early episodes based much of their comedy on Stewie's "super villain" antics, such as his constant plans for total world domination, his evil experiments, plans and inventions to get rid of things he dislikes, and his constant attempts at matricide . As the series progressed, the writers and MacFarlane agreed that his personality and the jokes were starting to feel dated, so they began writing him with a different personality. [97] Family Guy often includes self-referential humor. The most common form is jokes about Fox Broadcasting, and occasions where the characters break the fourth wall by addressing the audience.

For example, in " North by North Quahog ", the first episode that aired after the show's revival, included Peter telling the family that they had been cancelled because Fox had to make room in their schedule for shows like Dark Angel , Titus , Undeclared , Action , That '80s Show , Wonderfalls , Fastlane , Andy Richter Controls the Universe , Skin , Girls Club , Cracking Up , The Pitts , Firefly , Get Real , Freakylinks , Wanda at Large , Costello, The Lone Gunmen , A Minute with Stan Hooper , Normal, Ohio , Pasadena , Harsh Realm , Keen Eddie , The $treet , The American Embassy , Cedric the Entertainer Presents , The Tick , Luis , and Greg the Bunny . Lois asks whether there is any hope, to which Peter replies that if all these shows are canceled they might have a chance; the shows were indeed canceled during Family Guy Template:'s hiatus. [98] [99] [100] The show uses catchphrases , and most of the primary and secondary characters have them.

Notable expressions include Quagmire's "Giggity giggity goo", Peter's "Freakin' sweet", and Joe's "Bring it on!" [97] The use of many of these catchphrases declined in later seasons. The episode " Big Man on Hippocampus " mocks catchphrase-based humor: when Peter, who has forgotten everything about his life, is introduced to Meg, he exclaims " D'oh! ", to which Lois replies, "No, Peter, that's not your catchphrase." [101] Reception, legacy, and achievements Success Family Guy has received many positive reviews from critics. Catherine Seipp of the National Review Online described it as a "nasty but extremely funny" cartoon. [102] Caryn James of The New York Times called it a show with an "outrageously satirical family" that "includes plenty of comic possibilities and parodies." [103] The Sydney Morning Herald named Family Guy the "Show of the Week" on April 21, 2009, hailing it a "pop culture-heavy masterpiece".

[104] Frazier Moore from The Seattle Times called it an "endless craving for humor about bodily emissions". He thought it was "breathtakingly smart" and said a "blend of the ingenious with the raw helps account for its much broader appeal". He summarized it as "rude, crude and deliciously wrong". [105] The series has attracted many celebrities, including Emily Blunt , who has stated that Family Guy is her favorite series; she has expressed strong interest in becoming a guest star on the show. [106] The New Yorker Template:'s Nancy Franklin said that Family Guy is becoming one of the best animated shows; she commented on its ribaldry and popularity, and said the show was of better quality than The Simpsons. [107] The show has become a hit on Hulu ; it is the second-highest viewed show after Saturday Night Live . [108] IGN called Family Guy a great show, and commented that it has gotten better since its revival. They stated that they cannot imagine another half-hour sitcom that provides as many laughs as Family Guy. [109] Empire praised the show and its writers for creating really hilarious moments with unlikely material.

They commented that one of the reasons they love the show is because nothing is sacred—it makes jokes and gags of almost everything. [110] Robin Pierson of The TV Critic praised the series as "a different kind of animated comedy which clearly sets out to do jokes which other cartoons can't do." [111] Family Guy has proven popular in the United Kingdom, regularly obtaining between 700,000 and 1 million viewers for re-runs on BBC Three . [112] Many celebrities have admitted that they are fans of the show. Robert Downey, Jr. telephoned the show production staff and asked if he could produce or assist in an episode creation, as his son is a fan of the show, so the producers came up with a character for Downey. [113] Lauren Conrad met MacFarlane while recording a Laguna Beach clip for the episode " Prick Up Your Ears ", (season 5, 2006). [114] [115] She has watched Family Guy for years and considers Stewie her favorite character.

[114] Commenting on his appearance in the episode "Big Man on Hippocampus", (season 8, 2010), actor Dwayne Johnson stated that he was a "big fan" of Family Guy. [116] Johnson befriended MacFarlane after he had a minor role in Johnson's 2010 film Tooth Fairy . [116] R&B singer Rihanna has admitted to being a fan of Family Guy, [117] as has pop singer Britney Spears ; she tries to imitate Stewie's English accent. [118] She offered to appear in a cameo to hit back at the similar animated show South Park , but MacFarlane declined, stating he did not want to start a feud with the series. [119] Awards Family Guy and its cast have been nominated for thirteen Emmy Awards , with four wins.

MacFarlane won the Outstanding Voice-Over Performance award for his performance as Stewie; [120] Murphy and MacFarlane won the Outstanding Music and Lyrics award for the song "You Got a Lot to See" from the episode " Brian Wallows and Peter's Swallows "; [120] Steven Fonti won the Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation award for his storyboard work in the episode " No Chris Left Behind "; [121] and Greg Colton won the Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation award for his storyboard work in the episode " Road to the Multiverse ". [122] The show was nominated for eleven Annie Awards , and won three times, twice in 2006 and once in 2008. [123] [124] [125] In 2009 it was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series , becoming the first animated program to be nominated in this category since The Flintstones in 1961. [126] The Simpsons was almost nominated in 1993, but voters were hesitant to pit cartoons against live action programs.

[127] [128] Family Guy has been nominated and has won various other awards, including the Teen Choice Awards and the People's Choice Awards . [129] [130] [131] In the 1,000th issue of Entertainment Weekly , Brian Griffin was selected as the dog for "The Perfect TV Family". [132] Wizard Magazine rated Stewie the 95th-greatest villain of all time. [133] British newspaper The Times rated Family Guy as the 45th-best American show in 2009. [134] IGN ranked Family Guy at number seven in the "Top 100 Animated Series" and number six in the "Top 25 Primetime Animated Series of All Time". [109] [135] Empire named it the twelfth-greatest TV show of all time. [110] In 2005 viewers of the UK television channel Channel 4 voted Family Guy at number 5 on their list of the 100 Greatest Cartoons.

[136] Brian was awarded the 2009 Stoner of the Year award by High Times for the episode " 420 ", marking the first time an animated character received the honor. [137] In 2007 TV Guide ranked Family Guy number 15 in their list of top cult shows ever. [138] Family Guy has garnered six Golden Reel Awards nominations, winning three times. [139] Criticism and controversy Template:See also Family Guy has received a negative treatment from some critics. One of the initial critics to give the show negative reviews was Ken Tucker from Entertainment Weekly ; he called it "The Simpsons as conceived by a singularly sophomoric mind that lacks any reference point beyond other TV shows". [140] [141] The Parents Television Council (PTC), a conservative, a non-profit watchdog , has attacked the series since its premiere and has branded various episodes as "Worst TV Show of the Week". [142] [143] [144] In May 2000 the PTC launched a letter-writing campaign to the Fox network in an effort to persuade the network to cancel the show.

[145] The PTC has placed the show on their annual lists of "Worst Prime-Time Shows for Family Viewing" in 2000, 2005, and 2006. [146] [147] [148] The Federal Communications Commission has received multiple petitions requesting that the show be blocked from broadcasting on indecency grounds. [149] Tucker and the PTC have both accused the show portraying religion negatively, and of being racist. [150] [151] Because of the PTC, some advertisers have canceled their contracts after reviewing the content of the episodes, claiming it to be unsuitable. [152] [153] Critics have compared the show's humor and characters with those of The Simpsons. [154] [155] Various episodes of the show have generated controversy. In " The Son Also Draws " ( season one , 1999) Peter jokes that "Canada sucks"; this caused controversy with Canadian viewers.

[156] In "420" ( season seven , 2009) Brian decides to start a campaign to legalize cannabis in Quahog; the Venezuelan government reacted negatively to the episode and banned Family Guy from airing on their local networks, which generally syndicate American programming. Venezuelan justice minister Tareck El Aissami , citing the promotion of the use of cannabis, stated that any cable stations that did not stop airing the series would be fined; [157] the government showed a clip which featured Brian and Stewie singing the praises of marijuana as a demonstration of how the United States supports cannabis use. [158] In " Extra Large Medium " ( season eight , 2010) a character named Ellen (who has Down syndrome ) states that her mother is the former Governor of Alaska , which strongly implies that her mother is Sarah Palin , the only woman to have served in the office of governor in the state.

Sarah Palin, the mother of a special-needs child, criticized the episode in an appearance on The O'Reilly Factor , calling those who made the show "cruel, cold-hearted people." [159] 'Family Guy' Characters 'Family Guy' Characters By Nancy Basile Updated August 09, 2016. The Family Guy characters are what keeps the cartoon one of FOX's biggest hits. From the patriarch, Peter Griffin, down to a brainiac baby, and including their neighbors, the Family Guy characters are a funny bunch. Following is a list of Family Guy characters, with pictures and bios. Peter Griffin. FOX Peter Griffin Peter Griffin ( Seth MacFarlane ) is the central character of Family Guy. He and his family live in Quahog, Rhode Island. Speaking with a thick New England accent, he operates as if he is smarter than everyone else, but in reality he's clueless. He spends his free time drinking at the Drunken Clam with his buddies, Quagmire, Cleveland and Joe. Peter has worked for various companies, including the Pawtucket Patriot Brewery and the Happy-Go-Lucky Toy Factory (no doubt modeled after Hasbro, which is headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island).

Also, Peter has a long history of fighting with a large, yellow chicken. continue reading below our video Profile of Family Guy 'Family Guy' Lois Griffin. Twentieth Century Fox Lois Griffin Lois Griffin (Alex Borstein, Mad TV) is Peter's wife. She comes from the wealthy Pewterschmidt family and married Peter against their wishes. Lois is an accomplished piano player and singer. She's considered to be very attractive, which is proven by Quagmire's not-so-subtle advances toward her, as well as her short-lived career as a model ( "Model Misbehavior" ). She may be more sophisticated than Peter, but we have seen occasionally that she shares his low brow humor and lustfulness. 'Family Guy' Stewie Griffin. Twentieth Century Fox Stewie Griffin Stewie Griffin (Seth MacFarlane) may be a baby, but he is as diabolical as the worst villain. He is highly intelligent, but he's still very attached to his teddy bear, Rupert. He has schemed many times to destroy Lois, but has failed at every attempt. In early seasons, it was insinuated that Stewie is homosexual.

In recent seasons, the writers have become more obvious with his sexual leanings, though the humor is usually couched in Stewie's complete ignorance of his own comments. 'Family Guy' Brian Griffin. Twentieth Century Fox Brian Griffin Brian (Seth MacFarlane) is the Griffin family's dog. He seems to be the wisest and most sensible of all the characters, regardless of the fact that his still urinates on the carpet in Lois' presence. Yes, that's right, he is in love with Lois. Brian has had a girlfriend, Jillian, and enjoys the occasional martini. He and Stewie are usually pitted against each other, or drawn together, by extreme circumstances, such as a road trip to find Brian's mother (the former) or recruitment into the military (the latter). Brian can often be found singing duets with Stewie. Family Guy - Meg Griffin. Twentieth Century Fox Meg Griffin Meg Griffin ( Mila Kunis , That 70s Show) is the only daughter of Peter and Lois. She is frequently the butt of the family's jokes. She is considered to be unattractive and a loser.

She and Peter bonded when his driver's license was revoked and she chauffered him around town. She was given a chance to shine as a star in " Don't Make Me Over ." Also, she has a crush on Luke Perry. 'Family Guy' Chris Griffin. Twentieth Century Fox Chris Griffin Chris Griffin (Seth Green) is Peter and Lois' eldest son. He's not terribly bright, but he is a talented artist ("The Son Also Draws") and rock singer ("Saving Private Brian"). He admires his father and follows blindly into many of Peter's misadventures. Also, he fears the crazy monkey in his closet. Quagmire. Twentieth Century Fox Quagmire Glenn Quagmire (Seth MacFarlane) has only one thing on his mind and it isn't ice fishing. He stalks every woman he comes across, paying special attention to Lois, his next-door neighbor. Quagmire successfully wooed Cleveland's wife in "The Cleveland-Loretta Quagmire." He even made a move on Meg when she turned 18 in "Meg and Quagmire." Since the series debuted we've learned that Quagmire has father issues and he's an airline pilot.

Cleveland - The Cleveland Show. Twentieth Century Fox Cleveland Cleveland Brown (Mike Henry) is one of the Griffins' neighbors on Spooner Street. He is the most mild-mannered and nicest of the Family Guy characters, although I don't know if that's saying much. He used to be married to Loretta, but they separated when she had an affair with Quagmire. Once their divorce was final, Cleveland moved his children to Stoolbend, Virginia, where he rekindled his romance with an old high school flame in The Cleveland Show, now cancelled. Joe Swanson. FOX Joe Joe Swanson (Patrick Warburton) is another neighbor on Spooner Street. He is a police officer with occasional anger management issues. He's married to Bonnie, and they have two children, Susie and Kevin. Joe became a paraplegic when Joe got shot while he was undercover at a heroin lab. He is usually the one who gets Peter and/or Quagmire out of trouble. Chris Griffin and John Herbert. FOX John Herbert John Herbert (Mike Henry) is the creepy old man, and pedophile, in Family Guy who is obsessed with Chris. John Herbert is a United States Army veteran.

His high-pitched, whispery voice is provided by Mike Henry, who also plays Cleveland. (He makes me shudder every time he's on screen!) Peter Griffin and Carter Pewterschmidt. FOX Pewterschmidt Family Lois Griffin's maiden name is Pewterschmidt. Her father made billions in U.S. Steel, and owns a company called Pewterschmidt Industries. Carter is her father; Barbara is her mother; Patrick is her brother; and Carol, who is married to Mayor Adam West, is her sister. h2g2 - Family Guy - the TV Series - Edited Entry It seems today, that all you see, is violence in movies and sex on tv. But where are those good ol' fashioned values, On which we used to rely? Lucky there's a family guy. Lucky there's a man who positively can do, All the things that make us Laugh and cry. He's a family guy! Family Guy is a US cartoon series created by Seth MacFarlane - a more surreal version of The Simpsons , with quick-fire gags and preposterous plots. At the time of writing there have been three series of the show, with Fox recently agreeing to make a fourth.

The Family The show follows the life of the Griffin Family who live at 31 Spooner Street, Quahog, Rhode Island. The family is made up of the parents, two teenagers, a talking baby, and a talking dog. Peter (Seth MacFarlane) Peter is the main character in the series. The father of the family (aged 42), he is a little slow at taking in new information and is known for making rash decisions. His favourite pastime is watching television and he resists doing anything with the family that will drag him away from it. He used to work at a toy factory before it closed down and now works as a fisherman. Lois (Alex Borstein) Born into a wealthy family, Lois gave up any chance she had of inheriting the family millions when she married Peter. Now aged 40, she is a housewife who teaches piano on the side. Perhaps the sanest of the family, she is also interested in the finer things in life, such as art. She spends most of her time during the day at home talking to the dog, Brian. She has also become the target of many of baby Stewie's plans to kill her.

Meg (Mila Kunis/Lacy Chabert) Meg is the 16-year-old daughter of Peter and Lois. Her goal in life is one day to become popular. With no friends at school (and an extremely embarrassing family), Meg desperately wishes for these years to be over. She can do great bird-whistles. Chris (Seth Green) Chris is Peter and Lois's 13-year-old son. He takes after his father in most respects (especially in his love of food), but he is always trying to strengthen his relationship with Peter. He is a gifted artist and someday hopes to make a living through painting. His greatest fear is the evil monkey that lives in his closet. Stewie (Seth MacFarlane) Stewie is a one-year-old baby who has developed the ability to talk, read, and plan his mother's demise. The most intelligent member of the family, Stewie has decided to use his talents to achieve world domination. Still, for now he would be happy with just killing Lois. Nobody in the family takes Stewie's threats seriously and believe his highly advanced mind-control technology to be nothing more than a toy. He has recently been showing homosexual tendencies.

Brian (Seth MacFarlane) Brian is the average family dog (despite the fact that he can talk). Accepted as a member of the family, Brian is Peter's best friend. Unfortunately for him, he has fallen in love with Lois, a woman he can never get. He and Stewie are always at odds with one another as he is the only one who seems to be able to understand Stewie's villainous intent. Brian is always fighting for dog rights. Quahog Quahog is the town where the family live. Situated in Rhode Island, it is full of crazy characters and places. Francis Griffin (Colm Meaney): Peter's father. He's a strict, hard working Catholic. He loves Peter, but doesn't actually like him. Carter (Seth MacFarlane) and Barbara (Alex Borstein) Pewterschmidt: Lois's wealthy Parents. They don't like Peter and would prefer it if Lois were to leave him for someone with money. Glen Quagmire (Seth MacFarlane): The Griffins' womanising next-door neighbour. He has the amazing ability to turn anything that anybody says into an inuendo and has a secret obsession with Lois.

Cleveland (Mike Henry): A friend of Peter. He's married with a son. He runs a delicatessen. Lorretta (Alex Borstein): Cleveland's wife. Cleveland Jr (Mike Henry): Cleveland and Lorretta's son. He gets distracted easily. Joe Swanson (Patrick Warburton): Friend of Peter. He's a police officer who is handicapped from the waist down. Bonnie Swanson (Jennifer Tilly): Joe's wife. She is constantly pregnant. Kevin Swanson (Seth MacFarlane/Jon Cryer): Joe and Bonnie's son. He's very determined about everything he does. Mort Goldman (John G Brennan): The local pharmacist and friend of Peter. Muriel Goldman (Nicole Sullivan): Mort's wife. Neil Goldman (Seth Green): Mort and Muriel's son. He has a crush on Meg. Diane Simmons (Lori Alan) and Tom Tucker (Seth MacFarlane): Local news anchors. Jake Tucker (Seth MacFarlane): Son of Tom Tucker. He has the unusual property of an upside-down face. Tricia Takanawa (Alex Borstein): Reporter for local news.

Mr Weed (Carlos Alazraqui): Peter's former boss, now deceased. Possibly homosexual. His first name was Bermudagrass. Dr Hartman (Seth MacFarlane): Quahog's main doctor (despite the fact that he's not very good). Dr Kaplan (Sam Waterston): Brian's psychiatrist. Horace (John G Brennan): The barman at 'The Drunken Clam' (the bar where Peter and his friends hang out). Connie Demico (Lisa Wilhoit/Fairuza Balk): The most popular girl at Meg's school. Adam West (Adam West): Adam West, the star of Batman, plays himself as the mayor of Quahog. He's slightly gone in the head and has an overly large opinion of himself. Evil Monkey (Danny Smith): The evil monkey that lives in Chris's closet. God (Seth MacFarlane): The creator of the universe. Death (Adam Carolla\Norm MacDonald): The destroyer of souls and prince of darkness. Lives with his mother. What sets it apart? A cartoon show about a fat man and his family who go on crazy adventures; this sounds just like a rip-off of the Simpsons - surely? Wrong.

The two shows are very different in style. Family Guy is more surreal, more ridiculous, and has a lot more adult jokes. One of the hallmarks of Family Guy is the flashback scenes. These scenes can go on for over three minutes, and don't have anything to do with the plot. One of the most famous is the one and-a-half minute chicken scene in which Peter and a giant chicken get in a fight which takes place on the roof of trucks, while hanging onto the under-carriage of a helicopter, all while they're falling 600 feet to the ground. This was all because the chicken gave him a bad coupon. Another hallmark is the twisted television programmes that they watch. These are actual real-life shows that have been altered in strange ways - for instance, an episode of the Brady Bunch , where the older brother is put in the snake pit for smoking, and his sister is put in the chamber of fire for telling on him. History of the Show Family Guy was created by Seth MacFarlane (then 24). Produced by Fox, it was first shown on 31 January, 1999, immediately after the SuperBowl .

The first episode 'Death has a Shadow' got the highest ratings that the show ever received and got good reviews from critics, claiming 'Family Guy is what you'd get if you put Hank Hill, Homer Simpson, and Cartman in a blender!' Viewer ratings for the first series remained good, and it seemed that the show had a bright future ahead of it. By the time of the second series the programme began running into difficulties. Seth MacFarlane's ex-headmaster began to protest against the show. He managed to get many advertisers to join the protest, and after two episodes the show was taken off the air. It returned several months later, but was given an irregular time-slot and Fox began to censor some of the more controversial bits. As a result, viewer ratings for the show declined. In the summer of 2000 Fox cancelled the programme. Internet campaigns managed to convince Fox to do a U-turn, and they un-cancelled the show. A third series was produced and began to show on Fox in July of 2001. The Family Guy team were optimistic that the show would be a success. However, Fox gave the show an irregular time-slot again, and viewer ratings fell to their lowest.

In January 2002, Fox again decided to officially cancel the show; this time (they thought) for good. Still, the fans stayed on. Refusing to accept the cancellation of their favourite programme, the fan sites on the Internet united and began to protest against Fox. Demonstrations were held outside the studios. Some hard-line protesters refused to watch Fox, or even to use any of the products advertised on the stations 1 . Still, Fox refused to budge. Then came a change of fortunes for the cancelled show. Cartoon Network began to show re-runs. The show soon became the station's highest-rated show with adult audiences and began to break station records. Fox then decided to release every episode 2 of the show on DVD . The two box-sets broke even more records and became the best-selling television DVDs of 2003 in America. Two years after the show was cancelled, Family Guy was more popular than ever. Fox began to show an interest in the show once more. Rumours soon spread about a Family Guy DVD film. However, in January 2004 Fox instead announced the return of the show with a fourth series due on Fox in June 2005.

This is the first time that a TV show will be un-cancelled by the same network who first broadcasted it based purely on DVD sales. Further Reading "Family Guy" Life of Brian (TV Episode 2013) - IMDb IMDb There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error Brian dies and Stewie cannot use his time machine to save him. Meanwhile, Peter replaces Brian with an Italian dog named Vinny.

Directors: From $0.00 (SD) on Amazon Video ON TV a list of 10000 titles created 27 Feb 2011 a list of 9737 titles created 08 Jan 2012 a list of 61 titles created 22 Dec 2013 a list of 88 titles created 22 Nov 2014 a list of 202 titles created 3 weeks ago Title: Life of Brian (24 Nov 2013) 4.1/10 Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Add Image Add an image Do you have any images for this title? Edit Storyline When Stewie and Brian travel back to 17th century Jamestown, via Stewie's time machine, they encounter too many close calls with altering the course of mankind. Stewie decides to destroy his time machine, but immediately regrets his decision when an unthinkable event happens and he is unable to go back in time.

Written by Anonymous 24 November 2013 (USA) See more » Company Credits Did You Know? Trivia The episode received a 2.2 rating and was watched by a total of 4.58 million people. This made it the second most watched show on Animation Domination that night, beating American Dad! and Bob's Burgers but losing to The Simpsons with 6.78 million.[9] See more » Quotes Peter Griffin : [Seeing a decapitated chicken] Shouldn't you be running around? Chicken: Don't talk to me. You have a bad reputation in the chicken community. Girls Just Want to Have Fun (uncredited) (United States) – See all my reviews Seth Macfarlane, why did you have to kill Brian Griffin? He is the greatest cartoon character of all time! You have made the greatest injustice of television history. I would rather sing a song with Justin Bieber and Rebecca Black. Vinny is just a steaming pile of dog poop character who has a tough guy attitude who is a perfect match with Stewie. The problem with Vinny that replaces Brain is he does not have any capabilities like Brain whatsoever.

If Vinny should make any more main appearances, the show should expect a 3 month hiatus or a possible cancellation ASAP. Vinny should be the Johnny Test and the Citizen Kane of, if not, the horrible characters of animation history. to conclude this review, i am not watching family guy anymore and so is everyone else unless Seth Macfarlane revives Brian Griffin to reunite with the Griffins. 35 of 53 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes Family Guy replaces Brian with new street-smart dog Vinny in opening credits | Daily Mail Online comments When Family Guy's longtime pet Brian was run over by a car and killed in the November 24 episode, fans were absolutely outraged. Now series creator Seth MacFarlane has officially replaced the erudite pup with new street-smart dog Vinny in the opening title credits. Debuting on Sunday night's episode, the beige hound donned Brian's golden tuxedo during the Griffin's iconic song-and-dance number. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO Ratings stunt? Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane has officially replaced Brian with new street-smart dog Vinny in the opening title credits Permanent change?

Debuting on Sunday night's episode, the beige hound donned the erudite pup's golden tuxedo during the Griffin's iconic song-and-dance number Replaced! Vinny sports a noticeably smaller nose, pointier ears, and darker eyebrows than the dearly departed dog, who had a penchant for martinis and literary classics Vinny sports a noticeably smaller nose, pointier ears, and darker eyebrows than the dearly departed dog, who had a penchant for martinis and literary classics. Stewie's new pal is voiced by Sopranos star Tony Sirico, who signed on for six episodes of the Fox animated series. 'We thought it could be a fun way to shake things up,' executive producer Steve Callaghan told E! Online . 'As soon as this idea came up, we started talking about what the next couple episodes could be and we got very excited about the way this change will affect the family dynamics and the characters.' It's Paulie 'Walnuts' Gaultieri!

Stewie's new pal is voiced by Sopranos star Tony Sirico, who signed on for six episodes of the Fox animated series 'We thought it could be a fun way to shake things up': Dim-witted patriarch Peter Griffin is seen here adopting Vinny from the pound Outrage: Saddened viewers have been mourning Brian, even amassing 128,500 supporters on a fan-created petition which has since closed Saddened viewers have been mourning Brian ever since, even amassing 128,500 supporters on a fan-created petition which has since closed. However, there is still hope for the anthropomorphic white Labrador Retriever. TV Line suspects Brian will be revived during the hit show’s December 15 installment titled 'Christmas Guy.' In it, the Griffin's diabolical infant son plans to get 'the one and only thing he wants for Christmas.' Noooo! When Family Guy's longtime pet Brian was run over by a car and killed in the November 24 episode, fans were absolutely outraged Where's Stewie's time machine?

Brian is rumoured to be revived during the hit show’s December 15 installment titled 'Christmas Guy' Stewie can reverse the cataclysmic death if he can just obtain a titanium capacitor for his trusty time machine. Another promising sign of Brian's return to the twisted toon is the casting of Maya Rudolph as a love interest for the dog next fall. According to Entertainment Weekly , the SNL funnywoman will voice an 'avid runner who catches Brian's eye' and to win her over, he pretends to be a jogger as well. Confirmed: Another promising sign of Brian's return to the twisted toon is the casting of Maya Rudolph as a love interest for the dog next fall The satirical sitcom - which premiered in 1999 - features voice talent from MacFarlane, Mila Kunis, Seth Green, and Alex Borstein. After battling low ratings and a two-year cancellation, the three-time Emmy-winning cartoon is now one of the network's top-rated shows. The 12th season of Family Guy currently airs Sunday nights on Fox. Family reunion?

The 12th season of Family Guy currently airs Sunday nights on Fox Read more: Family Guy (TV Series 1999– ) - IMDb IMDb There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error ON DISC ALL In a wacky Rhode Island town, a dysfunctional family strive to cope with everyday life as they are thrown from one crazy scenario to another. Creators: Stewie and Brian explore a series of alternate universes. 9.0 Brian and Stewie travel back in time to January 31, 1999 and witness the events that took place in the very first episode of Family Guy, "Death Has a Shadow". 8.7 After an incident at the Emmys, the FCC overreacts, so Peter decides to start his own cable network, until the FCC shut him down and start censoring his life.

8.6 a list of 35 titles created 12 Aug 2013 a list of 33 titles created 14 Sep 2013 a list of 40 titles created 29 Jun 2014 a list of 21 titles created 04 Aug 2014 a list of 47 titles created 3 days ago Search for " Family Guy " on Amazon.com Connect with IMDb Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Peter becomes a DJ when he and the guys try to start a podcast. Most Recent Episode Rob Gronkowski moves in behind the Griffins; Stewie begins beekeeping, and gives them steroids, which makes them aggressive. Previous Episode Won 6 Primetime Emmys. Another 26 wins & 80 nominations. See more awards » Videos American Dad! (TV Series 2005) Animation | Comedy The random escapades of Stan Smith, an extreme right wing CIA agent dealing with family life and keeping America safe, all in the most absurd way possible.

Stars: Seth MacFarlane, Wendy Schaal, Dee Bradley Baker The Simpsons (TV Series 1989) Animation | Comedy The satiric adventures of a working-class family in the misfit city of Springfield. Stars: Dan Castellaneta, Nancy Cartwright, Julie Kavner South Park (TV Series 1997) Animation | Comedy Follows the misadventures of four irreverent grade-schoolers in the quiet, dysfunctional town of South Park, Colorado. Stars: Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Isaac Hayes Fry, a pizza guy, is accidentally frozen in 1999 and thawed out New Year's Eve 2999. Stars: Billy West, John DiMaggio, Katey Sagal In the unreal world of Sacred Heart Hospital, intern John "J.D" Dorian learns the ways of medicine, friendship and life. Stars: Zach Braff, Donald Faison, Sarah Chalke Bob's Burgers (TV Series 2011) Animation | Comedy Bob Belcher, along with his wife and three children, try to run their last hope of holding the family together, which is running Bob's dream restaurant. Stars: H.

Jon Benjamin, Dan Mintz, Eugene Mirman A hedonistic jingle writer's free-wheeling life comes to an abrupt halt when his brother and 10-year-old nephew move into his beach-front house. Stars: Jon Cryer, Ashton Kutcher, Angus T. Jones The adventures of the Family Guy (1999) neighbor and deli owner, Cleveland Brown. Stars: Mike Henry, Sanaa Lathan, Kevin Michael Richardson A woman who moves into an apartment across the hall from two brilliant but socially awkward physicists shows them how little they know about life outside of the laboratory. Stars: Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco Covert black ops and espionage take a back seat to zany personalities and relationships between secret agents and drones. Stars: H. Jon Benjamin, Judy Greer, Amber Nash Modern Family (TV Series 2009) Comedy | Romance Three different, but related families face trials and tribulations in their own uniquely comedic ways. Stars: Ed O'Neill, Sofía Vergara, Julie Bowen A father recounts to his children, through a series of flashbacks, the journey he and his four best friends took leading up to him meeting their mother.

Stars: Josh Radnor, Jason Segel, Cobie Smulders Edit Storyline Sick, twisted and politically incorrect, the animated series features the adventures of the Griffin family. Endearingly ignorant Peter and his stay-at-home wife Lois reside in Quahog, R.I., and have three kids. Meg, the eldest child, is a social outcast, and teenage Chris is awkward and clueless when it comes to the opposite sex. The youngest, Stewie, is a genius baby bent on killing his mother and destroying the world. The talking dog, Brian, keeps Stewie in check while sipping martinis and sorting through his own life issues. Written by Jwelch5742 UnCut, Un-PC & Unsuitable for Kids See more » Genres: 31 January 1999 (USA) See more » Also Known As: Stewie's full name is Stewart Gilligan Griffin. See more » Goofs Peter lives in a Cape Cod house. They have one full floor and an upstairs which has slanted walls. When there are screen shots of Peter's room, Chris's room, Stewie or Meg's room, they have straight walls.

See more » Quotes Chris Griffin : It'll be a good chance to get away from the evil monkey that lives in my closet. See more » Crazy Credits The end credits of 'Peter Griffin, Husband, Father... Brother?' feature Peter and a posse rapping the lyrics to the show See more » Connections If anyone ever had neighbours like this... 18 December 2009 | by nixskits (Canada) – See all my reviews When I first watched this a decade ago, I wondered, "Who created this?!" and, "What mental hospital did they escape from?" Because "Family Guy" is not quite like any other show I've ever seen. A sense of humour like a fist in the face and a bunch of head cases for the roster of, ahem, "people", that make up these characters are taking animation to a new, hilarious depravity. Seth Macfarlane and Alex Borstein are at least half of the voices in a typical episode (or seem to be).

How a blithering idiot of a Rhode Island dad and husband, an erudite pooch and an evil infant modelled on some cross between Rex Harrison and Satan all come from the same voice-over genius is one of television's great mysteries. Borstein is the "sensible" mom and wife, as well as so many other females who pop up for a couple seconds or the better part of half an hour. Her talents get a much broader and deeper workout here than on "Mad TV", where a lot of material wasn't fully suited to her incredible energy and intelligence. Some jokes make me wince (and still laugh) years after first hearing them (like anything involving "Diff'rent Strokes" or the late Bob Crane). I don't know if FOX has a censor at all or if they're just asleep when some really way out lines are written into any script. Things sure have changed since Jack Paar got into trouble for saying "water closet" back in the early 60s! It's mind boggling that this is in syndication and more popular now than "The Flintstones" were forty years ago.

Wherever "cartoons" are headed in the 21st century, you can bet the power of disc sales will make execs pay much closer attention to whatever they're ready to cancel from now on. The voices of millions are being heard at cash registers! My favourite stories so far are really like an unofficial hour of two episodes. 1:"The Thin White Line" and 2: "Brian Does Hollywood", where after developing a cocaine habit while working as a drug sniffing canine for the Quahog police department, he goes out to smoggy California to live with his cousin Jasper and break into the movies. Better than any others for summing up the "everybody is fair game for a joke" ethos we've come to know and love (or despise). 7 of 10 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes Family Guy - Google+ Family Guy Watch an encore of Family Guy tonight at 9/8c!﻿ Read moreShow less Hay your doing to day len and I nays to your ok﻿ Read moreShow less You have a month left of summer, make the most of it!

﻿ Read moreShow less Laugh it up tonight with two Family Guy encores starting at 7/6c! ﻿ Read moreShow less New kidney in town duh﻿ Read moreShow less What's Peter up to now? Watch an encore tonight (9/8c) to find out! ﻿ Read moreShow less Hay and I layk it 2 ﻿ Read moreShow less Lice kids! Follow Peter on Instagram here: ﻿ Read moreShow less Get creative and caption this! ﻿ Read moreShow less Hello friends. Stay tuned to my new channel. Thank you....:)﻿ Read moreShow less He's jealous because another kid took his mom away ﻿ Read moreShow less I say my good fellow. The game is afoot﻿ Read moreShow less Get your jog on this summer!﻿ Read moreShow less Official Google+ for Family Guy Introduction Now in its thirteenth season, Sunday-night staple FAMILY GUY continues to entertain fans with its outrageous humor, cutting-edge animation and epic episodes. Since its debut, the show has reached cult status among fans, and its breakout star, a talking baby, has become one of the greatest TV villains of all time.

FAMILY GUY has racked up numerous awards, including an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Comedy Series, only the second animated series in television history to be honored with such a distinction. The show follows the adventures of an endearingly ignorant dad, PETER GRIFFIN (Seth MacFarlane), and his hilariously odd family of middle-class New Englanders in Quahog, RI. LOIS (Alex Borstein) is Peter's wife, a stay at home mom with no patience for her family's antics. Then there are their kids: 17-year-old MEG (Mila Kunis) is a social outcast and the Griffin family punching bag; 13-year-old CHRIS (Seth Green) is a socially awkward teen who doesn't have a clue about the opposite sex; and 1-year-old STEWIE (MacFarlane) is a diabolically clever baby whose burgeoning sexuality is very much a work in progress. Rounding out the Griffin household is BRIAN (MacFarlane), the family dog, a member of Mensa with a penchant for dry martinis and dumb blondes.

Links Seth MacFarlane reveals why he killed Brian Griffin in Family Guy | The Independent Seth MacFarlane reveals why he killed Brian Griffin in Family Guy MacFarlane said he wanted fans to be reminded that 'anything can happen' Tuesday 14 January 2014 12:49 BST Click to follow The Independent Culture Brian Griffin was killed in a car accident on Family Guy Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane has shed light on his controversial killing off of central character Brian Griffin, insisting it “did what it was designed to do”: shock. The death of the family dog came to the dismay of many fans in November, despite his departure ultimately only lasting a couple of weeks thanks to the bendable rules of a cartoon universe . There were petitions for his reincarnation, ‘RIP Brian Griffin’ tattoos and furious tweets by the ton, much to the astonishment of MacFarlane. “It surprised all of us,” he told reporters during a press panel for Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, where most of the questioning centred on a dead cartoon dog rather than his new space documentary. “We were all very surprised, in a good way, that people still cared enough about that character to be that angry.

We thought it would create a little bit of a stir, but the rage wasn’t something we counted on.” MacFarlane added that Brian’s death under the wheels of a passing car had the desired effect, adding: “It did what it was designed to do — it reminded people this is still a show where anything that can happen despite the fact it’s been on for a while.” Brian was briefly replaced by a new dog Vinnie, voiced by the Sopranos’ Tony Sirico, in December, but is now a regular again after his infant sidekick Stewie went back in time to prevent his death. Fans need not worry about him being bumped off again however, with MacFarlane insisting: ‘Would I do it again? No. We already did it.” More about: ‘Family Guy’: Brian Griffin Dies — Season 12 Episode 6 Recap - Hollywood Life 8 Photos Spoiler alert: Stop reading if you don’t want to know who died on ‘Family Guy!’ Fox warned us that Family Guy would be killing off a member of the Griffin family on the show’s Nov. 24 episode, but even with advanced notice, nothing could have prepared fans for the loss of such a crucial character.

Seriously, not since the death of legendary newswoman Diane Simmons have we been this speechless while discussing Family Guy. So who died, and why? Read on for the tragic truth. ‘Family Guy’: Brian Dies Yes, the Griffins’ beloved dog Brian (voiced by creator Seth MacFarlane ) ended up being the character killed off this week’s episode. We learned that Brian had been hit by a car, and unfortunately, Stewie (also voiced by Seth) was unable to go back in time to stop it, as he’d just disassembled his time machine. So, technically, there were two deaths this week: R.I.P., Brian… and R.I.P., Stewie’s time machine. Oh, and Brian was “replaced” by a new dog named Vinny, which is also super-ridiculous. ‘Family Guy’ EP Explains Why Brian Had To Die Like most fans, we’re sure you’re scratching your head, wondering why Family Guy would off such an important character. “This was an idea that got pitched in the writers room and it sort of caught fire, and we thought it could be a fun way to shake things up,” executive producer Steve Callaghan tells E! Online .

“We started talking about what the next couple episodes could be and we got very excited about the way this change will affect the family dynamics and the characters.” Fans Protest Brian’s Death With Petition Steve explains that killing off a human member of the family would be “too traumatic,” so the writers settled on the dog. As for how Mila Kunis, Seth Green and the other stars reacted to the news, Steve says they were “surprised.” Also, they were “glad it wasn’t them.” HollywoodLifers, are you bummed that Brian is dead? What do you think about his replacement, Vinny? Drop a comment with your every emotion below. — Andy Swift

Question: What is the name of the Griffin's family dog in Seth MacFarlane's cartoon series 'Family Guy'?
Answer: Brian